Google Project Glass Lets Technology Get out of the Way by Putting it Right in Front of You

Looking at the people you're talking with in real life is so 1984. Now you can look them up online as you talk while they're in your visual fields somewhere. Or so it seems to be Google's interpretation of the dictum:

The most important screen is the one in front of us (the one screen is one of the points Mitch Joel made at re:think last week).

Whatever the glasses look like, I'm saying Project Glass lets technology get out of the way by putting it right in front of you with tongue firmly planted in cheek.

This is not what I had in mind when I talked about uploading humanism. Having worked with many engineers over the years I can attest they do take things quite literally, though.

What to make of it? Imagine, you don't even have to burn the calories it takes to grab your smart phone to take a picture -- progress.

Do you really want to see the world through the eyes of someone else? Even when those eyes are your own?

People I have spoken with who have have seen Project Glass said there is a misconception that the glasses will interfere with people’s daily life too much, constantly streaming information to them and distracting from the real world. But these people said the glasses actually free people up from technology.

Heavens forbid, of course they won't. They will rewire right onto the brain. And they will be nothing like the clunky and obtrusive sunglasses people thought. They will actually be more graceful (and futuristic?) than that.

Don't we already have plenty of technology to help us share the minutia of our lives on a 24/7 news cycle, including the news-ification of business (itself now more subject to bobbing in the ebb and flow of opinion than fashion)?

From the couple of (dare I say enthusiastic) reports I have seen, it sounds like it's a foregone conclusion we'll all run out to grab a pair. Now the hard decision -- black or white rims?

Okay, now that you've had a minute to read the first 300 or so words, in the mere seconds it takes you to process the information and tabulate implications, can we just proclaim this is the future and be done with it already?

If you've heard me speak and say "dude" -- this news gets a very special one.

I get progress, I enjoy technology, and like gadgets with the best of geeks, and I noticed something, especially when I travel to speak at conferences and meet with clients -- the face to face part is still, hands down, the most important.

A lovely sunset is often better when I soak it in first, then describe it (if at all) to someone else. McLuhan said it in 1964 in Understanding Media -- we shape our tools and our tools shape us, the introduction of a new medium changes our outlook.

He also said all media are an extension of human faculty – physical or mental. But the things we make also change our environment, our outlook, our attitudes, and how we relate to the world.

The screen is the new medium. We are visual creatures, and we're already saying that social media is competing heavily for our attention. What are the implications on the human mind?

What do we want to see grow? What do you want to see happen? The conclusions must be your own.

As for the attempt to "write" over thinking with a tool to be doing out loud: When will we wake up and realize that there is far less thought in making history than writing it?